It happened so suddenly. One moment we were looking forward to spring break, graduation celebrations and summer beach parties. Then, without much warning, it was all about hand washing, sheltering at home and frightening statistics.
Activities we love, activities that sustain this magazine— like dining out, beer and wine tasting, travel— vanished overnight. Scary times for any publication.
But we sprang into action, reporting through our weekly newsletter and social media about the closures, cancellations and ways to help our beloved food community survive—such as ordering to-go meals, shopping at farmers’ markets, supporting local fishermen and donating to the food banks.
As the lockdown dragged on, we began to notice people from all walks of life coming back to the values that Edible Monterey Bay has stood for since it was founded nine years ago—supporting our local community and paying close attention to where our food comes from.
Stuck at home, people joined CSAs, started baking and planted victory gardens. Out in the community, restaurants pivoted to takeout, chefs began selling meal kits, wineries offered virtual tastings, growers and distribution companies invented dozens of new schemes to get their products directly to consumers. Contactless, curbside pickup became the hot new selling point.
In a way the COVID-19 pandemic has provided a stress test on our local foodshed—challenging the ways food is produced, distributed and consumed. While the problems are far from over, we are in awe of all the ingenuity and collaboration that has emerged so far. And, once again, we are so very grateful to be living in a bountiful region where such a wide variety of fresh, healthy food is close at hand.
Did we pass the stress test? That remains to be seen.
But the stories in this issue demonstrate a great resilience in the local foodshed, which seems to be growing ever stronger in the Monterey Bay area despite the pandemic or maybe because of it, blossoming like the beautiful dahlia on our cover.
Our writers and photographers—who worked under unusual circumstances to produce this issue, using Zoom, wearing masks and observing social distancing—are proud to share stories about community-minded endeavors like the Back Alley Garden in Santa Cruz, Off The Hook in Hollister, the Secret Bakery in Salinas and the Cachagua General Store 3.0 in Carmel Valley. We want to take you behind the scenes at the regional farmers’ markets to meet the folks who have kept them going over the past difficult months.
We think you’ll enjoy reading about a new marriage of high-tech and local farming called EatLocal.Farm. And we invite you to do some armchair traveling with a collector of cannabis seeds from all over the world.
So take a break from the virtual world. Say goodbye to the computer screen for a while and enjoy holding this beautiful, tangible issue of Edible Monterey Bay in your hands. And please take a moment to appreciate all of the wonderful advertising partners who continue to sustain us in these uncertain times. Thank them with your business in a positive cycle of community support.
We’re all in this together.
Deborah Luhrman
Publisher
About the author
Deborah Luhrman is publisher and editor of Edible Monterey Bay. A lifelong journalist, she has reported from around the globe, but now prefers covering our flourishing local food scene and growing her own vegetables in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
